How to Trim with Tom’s Tumble Trimmers

If you’re looking for how to dry trim fast using Tom’s bladeless bud trimming machines, you’ve come to the right place!

While our tumblers make the post-harvest process a lot smoother, proper bud preparation is essential for the best outcomes. This guide will help you optimize your use of a Tom’s Tumbler to dry trim.

Benefits of Trimming Cannabis with Tom’s Tumble Trimmers

For over 10 years, we’ve continued to bring a simple, bladeless technology to help cultivators save time and money. Our bladeless trimmers:

• Preserve trichomes and flavor
• Cut trimming labor by 50–60%
• Offer unmatched flexibility 
• Scale easily for commercial operations

With capabilities that include:

• Bladeless technology: Gentle, trichome-preserving process.
• Wet/dry flexibility: Trim however your operation prefers.
• Size options: From tabletop to high-capacity GMP models.
• Easy cleaning: Quick disassembly and minimal downtime.
• Proven ROI: Reduced hand-trimming labor and faster throughput.

How to Trim Cannabis with Tom’s Tumble Trimmers

Follow this step-by-step guide for successful trimming with our bladeless machines:

Step 1: Cut the Stalks

Cut the plant at the base of the stalk. Once separated, hang it upside down to dry using either a line or rope. Most plants in arid climates can take up to 4–5 days to lose their moisture. This can be one of the most time-consuming aspects of the dry trimming process, but it is essential when learning how to dry trim fast. If you plan on wet trimming, you can skip hanging your product and move on to the next step.

Watch the sugar leaves in particular over the next few days. Buds that are still pliable are not ready to be trimmed. If you’re operating in a temperature-controlled room, reduce the humidity to around 55% or dry the material for a bit longer. A couple of hours should do.

Step 2: De-bud the Branches

Take the dried plant, remove the buds and the water leaves. Immediately store buds into a plastic bag or container to preserve their freshness. The branches and water leaves can be discarded.

Step 3: Trim

Once the material is ready, place the recommended amount of bud in the mesh barrel of the tumble trimmer. This amount varies by model and whether you’ve selected a tumbler for small–medium or medium–large harvests. You should leave at least 3-4 inches of space between the product and the axel. Do not overfill the chamber. If you are wet trimming, you’ll also hook up the CO2 adaptor at this time so you can freeze your bud in the chamber.

Set to your desired speed and watch product tumble for about 2–3 minutes. Keep in mind how to trim buds in the best way varies depending on the flower. We recommend 35rpm for most buds and slower speeds for light or wafey flowers.

During the tumbling process, the sugar leaves will pass through the net and the funnel and be deposited as beautiful trim, while the trimmed buds will stay in the netted chamber. For the first cycle, tumble for about 1 minute and stop, unzip the net and see how trimmed the buds are. Some strains are done in a minute or two. Keep tumbling, stopping every minute or two, until your buds are exactly where you want them. It is best to tumble less than 4-5 minutes to preserve as much as the trichomes as possible. 

Your product will be 85%-99% trimmed, depending on your strain and dryness. You’ll know to stop when you see kief beginning to pass into the funnel flow bag. At this point, product should be about 90-95% trimmed with the structure intact and very few trichomes lost.

Once you are done trimming, remove the trim container and replace it with another receptacle. Unzip the mesh barrel and turn on the motor until the remaining product falls into your bin. That’s it! You may need to touch up your buds a bit by hand, but not always. 

Step 4: Separating Small Nugs from Trim

To separate any popcorn size nuggets that may have gone through the net and into your trim, unzip and remove the net from the velcro on the drums. Swap it out with a ¼” MeshNet. Put your trim into the 1/4" Meshnet and tumble again at high speed, and any popcorn-sized nuggets will remain in the barrel. Take out the trim container, replace it with a clean one, unzip the mesh barrel, and release the small nuggets into the trim container by turning on the motor.

Step 5: Extract the Kief

Once you know how to dry trim fast, efficiently isolating kief from your trim is easy. Place the kief net on the barrel and set a clean catch bin below the funnel flow bag. For better results, make sure your trim is cold. Freezing it overnight or using dry ice will typically do the trick. You can also flash freeze using the Liquid Co2 Adaptor Kit.

Fill the barrel with your trim until you have 2” of space below the axle. We recommend using a dust cover once you start the extraction process. Run the tumbler at full speed until the kief stops passing through the funnel flow bag and into the clean container. It may take 15-20 minutes of tumbling your trim to extract all the kief you want. Keep checking your kief to be sure you are getting the quality you want and not any extra plant material. Gently scrape or wipe off the funnel bag and dust cover to collect any valuable kief.

How to Find the Right Trimmer for Your Cannabis Operation

If you’re interested in machine trimming but not sure what piece of equipment is right for your needs, you can start by considering these questions:

1. Will you be wet trimming or dry trimming cannabis? 
2. How much cannabis will you be trimming?
3. Do you need a portable or stationary bud trimmer machine?
4. What is your budget for a trimmer machine? 
5. Do you want an automatic bud trimmer system?

For our complete guide to choosing a cannabis trimmer machine, check out this blog post.

Experience Cutting Edge Technology without the Blades at Python Industries

Tom’s Tumbler™ is your do-it-all, post-harvest solution center. We are proud to offer the best, most effective bud trimming machines on the market. If you have any questions about how to trim buds the best way with your tumble trimmer, feel free to contact us or check out our blog.